[NOOB Alert] first 60% build - own case

[mcarni]

guys,

I am planning my first build, I know it will be a 60%, I think I found most of the components (pcb, switches, plate & keycaps...)
Regarding layout / layers I am still studying the forums and the documentation on QMK so I do not want to bother you with questions at the moment...might come later, but now I do not feel ready...

On the other side, since I decided to make my own case, I would like to ask you for a couple of info.
I have some wood lying around so my plan is to do something with that (pictures will come if the end results is not too bad...)
I am not sure of what the height of the case should be.
I see that there are cases that let the switches exposed (or at least partially exposed) and cases that are higher and that show only the keycaps exposed.
Is the choice between the two options driven by the look or is there any practical reason to choose one or the other?

I would like to understand how high the sides of the case should be.
I tried to look but I could not find it, is there a schematic or a drawing of what is the typical height from the top face of the pcb and the bottom of the keycaps? Or is it maybe better to say from the top face of the pcb to the top face of the mounting plate?

I am assuming that these dimensions will be driven by the height of the cherry (or clones) switches and the height of the keycaps...
I understand that this depends on the different keycaps profile, I am thinking of xda caps if this helps...

 

thanks for your help

M



 

[Sup]

The difference between open and closed sides is just for looks but it also effects sound a bit. With the wood if you are experienced with woodcraft the best would be to buy a cheap poker case and measure it and use it to make your wooden case. You could also buy a case from ali express for 50-60 dollars.

For QMK you can use this tutorial it will cover most of the basic stuff and its easy to follow.

Good luck 

[mcarni]

ciao Sup,

thanks for the feedback, much appreciated.
I have no special woodcraft skill, I just like to play.
I will have a try and see how it comes out, in the worst case I will buy a case...


regarding qmk, thanks, yes I know Chokkan is amazing, I actually started from there.
I am happy to see that also MechMerlin did something similar.
I am studying also the official documentation, doing my best, let's see where I get.
My concern at the moment is that I will need Italian Layout but also the possibility to switch to German and Russian.
I know it is there, but I need to find the right sintax...
 
thanks a lot

[TalkingTree]

My concern at the moment is that I will need Italian Layout but also the possibility to switch to German and Russian.

Most firmwares support more layers that you'd actually need, so you can toggle between all three languages easily.

[mcarni]

Hi TalkingTree, thanks for the feedback

I was thinking that in order to use a non-English layout I had to use the keymap_italian.h under qmk_firmware/quantum/keymap_extras/ but I was not sure of the syntax to do that

maybe I am looking into the wrong things but i think i can get the é-ò-à-ù on my layers, but i have no idea how to specify that shift + 6 does "&" and not "^"

i know, probably something silly... sorry about it...i will study more...

thanks

M

[TalkingTree]

I was thinking that in order to use a non-English layout I had to use the keymap_italian.h under qmk_firmware/quantum/keymap_extras/ but I was not sure of the syntax to do that

As far as I remember, those keymaps are for a different purpose. You don't need to specify which character encoding you're using for your keyboard at firmware level. That's an operating system task. In fact, in Windows 10 for example, you can toggle between multiple input languages by pressing Winkey + spacebar (by default).
You really want to customize your layout to move keys in a different position, assign macros or anything else non strictly OS related.

[mcarni]

I was thinking that in order to use a non-English layout I had to use the keymap_italian.h under qmk_firmware/quantum/keymap_extras/ but I was not sure of the syntax to do that

As far as I remember, those keymaps are for a different purpose. You don't need to specify which character encoding you're using for your keyboard at firmware level. That's an operating system task. In fact, in Windows 10 for example, you can toggle between multiple input languages by pressing Winkey + spacebar (by default).
You really want to customize your layout to move keys in a different position, assign macros or anything else non strictly OS related.

thanks, I actually thought that having the different "encodings" programmed in the keyboard was one of the targets..
I was already thinking of ditching the keyboard switcher/indicator (I am mainly using Linux)
but what you are saying makes sense... and definitively will keep things easier..

thanks
M

[mcarni]

i spent sleepless nights watching live stream and builds on youtube...i think it is now time to give you a little update...
like i mentioned earlier i am not sure when but at some point i decided that i wanted to build my own keyboard
i know very little but i knew that there were a couple of things that i wanted:
- it had to be minimal
- it had to be iso, and possibly as similar as possible to the default iso layout

combining all the above i think i opted for a 60% layout with a split spacebar

it all started with a delivery, a small box full of goodies from KBDFans (thank you by the way for the incredible support, i know i have been a pain...i just had no clue what i wanted...)
gateron brown switches, i know nothing fancy, but it seemed like the reasonable choice as first switch, i did not want anything clicky and nothing too exotic or expensive
for the keycaps i wanted something sober i knew i didn't want ABS and i didn't want to have OEM or cherry profile
for the pcb i read so many good things about the dz60 that i don't think there was ever any doubt
for the back plate i went with steel, i actually regretted this later on, but i didn't know any better

since i decide to work on this i decided also that i wanted to make my own case
i had some plywood an aluminium plate that wanted to be the bottom of a keyboard


and some acrylic glass that always dreamed of being used...so i started playing with what i got


some layout test, i read it was important so i did it and indeed it helped me in getting the right switches in the right place


the best way to make the standoff was to glue nuts of different size to the bottom plate...i know i know this is not ideal...
i band aid modded and lubed all the stabilisers following the advices of all the keyboard gurus...
first test, everything seems to fit


i didn't take many photos of the painting process, but i can tell you it was long and painful
the bottom plate got a couple of layers of primer and then some red/orange and a translucent coat (which in the end left some strange shades..)
the wood got a darker shade and several layers of flatting
and here are the pictures of the final product


more pictures here:
https://community.imgur.com/t/first-60-build-own-case/61140

waiting for all the different coats to dry gave me the perfect excuse for studying a bit the QMK documentation
i might be wrong but i could not find any layout that fit, there was an iso and split but not an iso split
so i added an iso split to info.json and dz60.h under keyboard/dz60
i initially thought that rgb was not important and i just wanted a plain colour
but then i stumbled upon a thread on how to have rgb settings per layer (thanks to AGausmann and drashna)
and i felt that i had to have it
i combined the rgb layer switch with a 99% default base and function layer plus a arrow/mouse layer and an rgb layer
and i saved everything under my layout folder "iso_split-spacebar"
i would like to give what i have done back to the community, i know it is not rocket science
but in case anybody else needs an iso split layout...it might be useful i guess
but first i need to learn how to commit (is that even the right word???) changes to github (if anybody want to help me out with this and link some info..)


i know the keyboard is not perfect but i am quite happy with the result
i will need to improve painting and the feet need some rethinking
i will want to have also my own usb cables
overall it was a lovely experience

thank you all for the support and inspiration

thanks M

dz60.h, keymap.c, info.json attached

[Nuji]

I'm really loving the selfmade case. Well done mate.

[stoic-lemon]

Congrats on that custom build. Very cool.

[mcarni]

thanks a lot @Nuji & @stoic-lemon

...ops also sorry i had to edit my post...i messed up the code tags...


thanks again

M

[Signature]

thanks a lot @Nuji & @stoic-lemon

...ops also sorry i had to edit my post...i messed up the code tags...


thanks again

M

Really nice build You might want to consider putting spoiler tags for the coding tho

More

like this

[mcarni]

thanks a lot @Nuji & @stoic-lemon

...ops also sorry i had to edit my post...i messed up the code tags...


thanks again

M

Really nice build You might want to consider putting spoiler tags for the coding tho

More

like this

i failed miserably...i could not get the "more" or the "spoiler" to work so i opted for separate attachments...sorry...

thanks

M

[Signature]

thanks a lot @Nuji & @stoic-lemon

...ops also sorry i had to edit my post...i messed up the code tags...


thanks again

M

Really nice build You might want to consider putting spoiler tags for the coding tho

More

like this

i failed miserably...i could not get the "more" or the "spoiler" to work so i opted for separate attachments...sorry...

thanks

M

No worries, looks much better now! To use the more tag just [.more] [/.more] but remove the . 

[TwistedPair]

Nice job! The final result looks so warm and neat.

[mcarni]

I hope it doesn't count as necrobump,
just very happy with my new keycaps and wanted to share



thanks

M

[Kasuka3497]

That actually looks really good.
A nice balance of clean and utilitarian.

[suicidal_orange]

I hope it doesn't count as necrobump

Definitely does   Nothing wrong with that though, this thread is about the board in the pics so where else could they go...

New caps look good, do the colours mean anything or are they just pretty?